Sounds like a teaser for every local newscast you’ve ever seen, right? Well, don’t board up your front door just yet.

A police officer in the 3rd District sent out a burglary warning about a scourge flexible felons who are removing mail slots, then reaching inside to unlock the door.

Throughout the City of Philadelphia, including several incidents within 3rd Police District, thieves have begun to exploit residential front door mail-slots as a method of breaking into the homes of unsuspecting residents. In these incidents, thieves were able to remove the flap, or sometimes the entire mail-slot frame, from the front door of the residence and then simply reach in and unlock the door, walking right into the home. If your mail-slot is within reach of your front door lock, your home is vulnerable to this method of residential burglary.

The alert recommended that if your mail slot fits this profile, then you should consider replacing your door or sealing it up. Disturbing new crime trend? Well, after following up with the police department, we learned that there have been a grand total of three confirmed mail slot burglaries in the whole city, all of them in South Philly.

Kudos to the police department for trying to keep us informed, but we at Passyunk Post world headquarters think we’ll take our chances with our old door.